Bearing

Abstract

A bearing including an inner ring an outer ring surrounding the inner ring with a radial clearance between the inner and outer ring, an annular inner supporting body disposed in the radial clearance, and an annular outer supporting body surrounding the inner supporting body circumferentially in a torsionally fixed manner and being displaceable with respect to the inner supporting body in an axial direction. The inner and outer supporting bodies join the inner and outer rings radially in a flexibly compliant manner.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONSThis application claims priority to German Application No. DE 101 54 705.6-12, filed Nov. 9, 2001, which is incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND INFORMATIONThe present invention is directed to a bearing having an inner ring and an outer ring surrounding the inner ring with radial clearance, the rings being joined to one another in the radial direction in a flexibly compliant manner.A bearing of this kind is known from the EP 0 544 986 B1. The inner ring and the outer ring are disposed coaxially to one another and joined in a flexibly compliant manner in the radial direction by a bellows element of elastomer material. The bellows element has a profile having at least one axially protruding fold and is made of a thermoplastic elastomer material.It is noted in this context, however, that a functional relationship exists between the vibration isolation in the radial direction and the axial displaceability of the inner and outer ring relative...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

An object of the present invention is to further refine a bearing of the type mentioned at the outset in a way that will achieve a functional separation between the vibration isolation in the radial direction and the axial displaceability of the inner and outer ring relative to one another, thereby enabling both functions to be adapted separately from one another, simply and effectively, to the particular conditions of the application case. It is, moreover, an aim of the present invention to increase the service life while maintaining invariably good working properties.

Together with a rolling-contact bearing or a friction bearing, the inner ring may form a preassemblable unit. Rolling-contact bearings are preferably used when the intended use of the bearing is, for example, as a drive shaft support in motor vehicles. On the other hand, friction bearings are used when the installation space in the radial direction only has small dimensions, making it impractical to use commercial rolling-contact bearings in the radial direction because of their substantial overall height. By combining the inner ring with the rolling-contact bearing or the friction bearing for the particular preassemblable unit, the result is a design requiring few parts, so that the assembly of the bearing according to the present invention is substantially simplified, the assembly of the preassemblable unit being especially simple when the rolling-contact bearing or the friction bearing are joined in a snap-fit connection with the inner ring.

Problems solved by technology

This is not very satisfactory with regard to consistently good working properties over a long service life.

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